Fantasy Football: Start or sit for Falcons vs. Vikings

Fantasy Football: Start or sit for Falcons vs. Vikings

Here’s who to start and sit in fantasy football for this week’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.

QB: Sit Matt Ryan, start Case Keenum

Ryan and the Falcons offense have been on quite a roll since Atlanta’s early bye-week. However, they haven’t faced a defense like this in some time.

Minnesota’s thoroughly-nasty defensive unit features superstars at all three levels and does everything well. They pressure the quarterback, they crash the run, and they generally play stellar pass coverage. It’s a unit that simply has no weaknesses and is capable of shutting down even prolific offenses like the Falcons. Ryan owners should take a knee and find another option this week.

The truth is this Vikings offense is humming right now and Keenum just won the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Month award, and deservedly so. Keenum has plenty of weapons at his disposal and Minnesota’s scheme has put him in a great place to succeed. He will test even excellent defensive units this season. I’m expecting a high-scoring game and another solid fantasy outing for Keenum and so should you.

RB: Sit everyone

Minnesota’s defense ranks No. 1 against opposing running backs in fantasy scoring. That means Devonta Freeman will be on my bench even if he plays and he should be on yours too. The same goes for Tevin Coleman.

Meanwhile, Atlanta’s run defense has stiffened after a tough start to the year. Latavius Murray will have some good matchups, but this is not one of them.

WR: Start Mohamed Sanu, Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen

It would be one thing if the Vikings were truly planning on playing Julio Jones one-on-one. I simply don’t believe it’s going to happen. Expect Mike Zimmer to try neutralizing Julio with bracket coverage throughout the game. Jones will probably get some yardage but is unlikely to produce anything close to last week’s numbers. The bright side is that should open up the field more for Sanu and his fantasy owners.

With the Falcons expected to miss Desmond Trufant and a couple other cornerbacks not 100 percent, Minnesota’s athletic wide receiver corps could potentially have a field day if Atlanta’s pass rush doesn’t get home. Thielen and Diggs are both quality starts this week against a depleted Falcons secondary.

TE: Sit Austin Hooper and Kyle Rudolph

Both Atlanta and Minnesota do a great job covering tight ends. It would be a big surprise to see either Hooper or Rudolph go off on Sunday.

D/ST: Sit Falcons and Vikings

You can make a case to start Minnesota’s defense this week, however there are several far-superior streaming options on defense, such as the Chargers going against the Browns, for example.